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V ~o UNITED ST AT ESOFAMERICA. ,oy g^' 



HISTORICAL ACCOUNT 

OF 

CHRIST CHURCH, BOSTON. 



DELIVERED ON 

THE ONE HUNDKED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
OF THE OPENING OF THE CHURCH, 

December 29th, 1873, 

. BY THE RECTOR, 

THE EEY. HENEY J^URROUGHS. 



(Published by Request.) 



BOSTON: 

A. WILLIAMS & CO. 

1874. 
i 



THIS IS NONE OTHER THAN THE HOUSE OF GOD, AND THI^ 
THE GATE OF HEAVEN." 




''may THE GATES OF HELL NEVER PREVAIL AGAINST 



ADDRESS. 



The first settlers of Boston styled themselves " children of 
ihe Church of England," and counted it their glory to be 
called after her name, and before the Arhella left Yarmouth, 
on the 8th of April, 1630, the Governor, John Winthrop, 
with the ministers and magistrates of the new Colony, desired 
the prayers of the Bishop of London, and of the rest of their 
brethren in and of the Church of England. But, after they 
arrived here, they not only neglected to make any provision 
for the English Church, according to their charter, but de- 
nounced the Book of Common Prayer as a sinful violation of 
the worship of God. A fine of five shillings was imposed 
upon any one who observed Christmas Day, or the like festi- 
vals, and a similar fine upon any one who did not resort to 
their meetings on the Lord's Day, and on the days of Fasting 
and Thanksgiving appointed by authority, and no days com- 
manded to be observed by the Church of England were re- 
garded. No attention was paid to the requisition of Charles 
IL, that " such as desire to use the Book of Common Prayer, 
and perform their devotions after the manner as Established in 
England, be not denied the exercise thereof ;" and the Com- 
missioners, whom he sent over to remonstrate with the General 
Court, brought back the reply that they refused to be dictated 
to in religious matters. It was not until 1677 that the severity 
of the laws was so far relaxed as to permit divine service to be 
performed after the manner of the English Church. The Rev. 
Robert RatcliflPe arrived in the Rose^ frigate, on the loth of 
May 1686, and officiated in the library at the east end of the 



4 



Town Hall, and afterwards in the Exchange. In 1689 a 
wooden chapel was built, and named King's Chapel. This 
building was enlarged in 1710, but was found in the course of 
twelve years more to be too small for all who desired to attend, 
and it was decided to build a new church at the north end. 
The mill creek, a canal cut through the narrow neck of land 
that separated the Mill Pond from the harbor, now in part 
covered by Blackstone street, was generally recognized as 
the dividing line between the north and the south parts of the 
town. 

Our earliest record gives an account of the first steps taken 
towards building Christ Church, in the following words : 

Lans Deo. 
Boston, New EDgland. 
The secoDcl day of September, 1722. 
At the request of ^everall Gentlemen who had purchased a piece of 
Ground at the North end of Boston to build a Church on, the Reverend 
Mr. Samuel Myles ordered liis Clerk to give notice to his Congregation, 
That all those who were willing to contribute towards erecting another 
Church at the North end of Boston were desired to meet at King's 
Chappel the Wednesday following. 

Agreable to which Notification several Persons assembled and chose 
Mr. John Barnes, Treasurer, Thomas Graves, Esq., Messrs. George Cra- 
dock, Anthony Blount, John Gibbous, Thomas Selbey and George Monk 
a Committee to receive Subscriptions and build a Church on said ground 
at the North end of Boston. 

The preamble to the subscription : 

Whereas, the Church of England at the South part of Boston is not 
large enough to contain all the people that would come to it, and severall 
well disposed Person? having already bought a piece of ground at the 
North part of said Town to build a Church on, 

AVe, the subscribers, being willing to forward so good a work, do ac- 
cordingly afl3x to our Names what each of us will chearfully contribute." 

At the head of the list stands the name of the Rt. Hon. Earl 
of Thanet, who gave =£90. His Excellency Francis Nicholson, 
Governor of South Carolina, gave X69, and also five cedar 
posts and sixtj-five planks, freight free. Among the subscri- 
bers were the Hon. Lady Blackett, Leonard Vassall, Charles 
Apthorp, William Price, Peter Faneuil, and several persons liv- 
ino; at Antio-ua and Barbadoes. The whole amount contributed 
was <£2181, and X1230 was received afterw^ards from the sale 



5 



of pews. The land was conveyed from A. Blount to John 
Barnes and others, and from them to the Rector, Wardens and 
Vestry of Christ Cliurcli by an Indenture, on parchment, now 
in our possession, which provides that the right of presentation 
to the Rectory sliall be in the Wardens and Vestry ; and a by- 
law, made in 1724, directs that no one shall have a vote at any 
of the church meetings unless he holds a just title to a pew, 
and that there shall be but one vote for a pew. 

On the loth of April, 1723, the Rev. Samuel Myles, In- 
cumbent of King's Chapel, accompanied with the gentlemen of 
his congregation, laid the first stone, concluding the impressive 
ceremony with the words : 

" May the gates of Hell never prevail against it." 

The Church was opened for divine service on the 29th of 
December, 1723, the Sunday after Christmas Day. The Rev. 
Timothy Cutler, D.D., officiated, and preached from Isaiah, 
fifty-sixth chapter and seventh verse : ^'•Fur iimie house shall 
he called a house of 'prayer for all people.'^ 

There are a few parishes and religious societies now in exist- 
ence that were founded before 1723, but there is no other house 
of public v/orship in Boston as old as this, and, with the single 
exception of the old State House, which has been so much 
altered as almost to have lost its identity, Christ Church is our 
most ancient public building. 

It is seventy feet long, fifty -feet wide, and thirty-five feet high. 
The walls are two and a half feet thick. The tower is twenty- 
four feet square, and its walls are three and a half feet thick. 
The spire rises to the height of one hundred and seventy-five 
feet, and is a well kno^A^i guide for vessels entering the harbor. 
The resemblance of the architecture to that of churches built 
at the same period in England has given rise to the opinion 
that this church is modelled after one of the designs of Sir 
Christopher Wren. When the opening services were held the 
building was not completed. A portion of the plastering was 
done in 1725 ; the pillars were enclosed and the windows hung 



6 



in 1726, and the steeple was not finished until 1740. There 
was formerly an East window, for which the Vestry voted, in 
1728, that " a convenient number of iron rods should be pro- 
vided,, and put up with all expedition." There were three 
aisles, and the pews vrere square. The pulpit stood on the 
north side of the middle aisle, near the chancel, with the read- 
ing desk in front, and belov^ thai, a desk for the clerk, a very 
important functionary in those days who, besides waiting upon 
the Rector, led in the responses, gave out notices, announced 
the psalms to be sung, and kept the register of baptisms, mar- 
riages and funerals, and for these services received a salary 
of £S0 a year. In 1726 the Vestry voted that, " a pew be 
built at the north side of tlie altar for Mr. Edward Mills, he 
paying as much for said pew as any other person ; also, that 
" a pew be built, by the pulpit, ranging Ayith Capt. Temple's, for 
the use of Capt. Wells." In 1730 the new pew under the 
pulpit was granted to Capt. Sleigh, and a large pew was con- 
structed, handsomely lined, and provided with six Prayer 
Books for the use of the gentlemen of Honduras who had sent 
gifts of logwood to the parish. 

The lot next north of the church, on which lhe Academy 
was afterwards built, was bought of John Baker, in 1739, and 
conveyed to the Wardens and their successors for the use of 
Christ Church forever. Other lots on the north and south of 
the church were bought or given at various times, and after- 
wards sold. 

Tlie first Wardens were Thomas Graves and Anthony 
Blount, and the first Vestrymen were H. Franklin, Edward 
Watts, John Gibbs, Gillnm Phill'ps, John Corney, George 
jMonk, Xorth Ingham, and Robert Temple. It was an an- 
cient custom for the Wardens to stand at the great doors of the 
church on Cln'istmas Day to receive the alms for the poor. It 
was evidently difficult to secure punctuality at vestry meetings, 
for a fine was imposed upon any member that " doth not ap- 
pear within two hours after the time appointed for a. meeting." 



7 



Reverence for the house of God, and a determination to pre- 
serve order during divine service manifest themselves in the 
vote that " no naills nor pinns be put in the pillars nor the- 
front of the gallerjs with a design to hang hatts on," in the 
appointment of an officer with a salary of X3, to keep the boys 
in order in the galleries, and the direction to the sexton in 
1730 " for the future, to keep the rails at the Altar clear from 
boys and negroes setting there." 

While the Episcopalians of Boston were laying the founda- 
tions of Christ Church God's providence was preparing Timo- 
thy Cutler in Connecticut to be its first Hector. This eminent 
man was the son of Major John Cutler, and was born in Charles- 
town, Mass., in 1683. He graduated at Harvard College 
' in ITOl, and was admitted to the Congregational ministry at 
Stratford, Conn., Jan. 11, 1710, having been selected as one 
of the best preachers that eould be found in Massachusetts or 
Connecticut, and sent to Stratford in order to prevent the 
growth of the Episcopal Church. In 1719 he was appointed 
Rector, or President, of Yale College. Here he became inti- 
mate w^th Samuel Johnson, a tutor in the college. Johnson 
had seen and visited the Rev. Mr. Pigot, at Stratford. He 
had also received a copy of the Book of Common Prayer 
from Mr. Smithson of Guildford, at a time when both he and 
Cutler had become convinced of the necessity of employing 
great care in preparing for a solemn address to the Lord of 
Heaven, and were already doubtful of the propriety of using 
extemporaneous prayers in public worship. Johnson availed 
himself of the language of the Liturgy in his ministrations at 
West Haven, and people came from a distance to hear one so 
" gifted in prayer." It is related that they were so moved by the 
fervent, penitential supplications of the Litany that they found 
themselves joining in the earnest petition, " Good Xord, de- 
liver us." In the Library were the works of our great Eng- 
glish Divines, a recent gift to the college, and Cutler and 
Johnson eagerly studied Archbishop King's " Treatise on 



8 



the inventions of man in the worship of God," Pearson on the 
Creed, Bingham's Antiquities, Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, 
and the writings of Bull, Barrow, Patrick, South, Whithj, 
Sherlock, and many others of the Church of England. 'New 
light dawned upon their minds, and they found that there 
had been from the Apostles' time three orders of ministers 
in Christ's Church, Bishops, Priests and Deacons. When it 
became known that Cutler, Johnson, and five others doubted 
the validity of the ordination of the Congregationalists they 
were summoned to appear before the Trustees, who were over- 
whelmed with sorrovr aud consternation. To give them time 
to return to their allegiance they were allowed until the fol- 
lowing October to reconsider their position. In the meantime 
a conference was held, at which Gov. Saltonstall presided, but 
the, result was only to bring out fr'om Cutler, Johnson, Brown 
and Whitmore a formal declaration of their belief that the 
Church of England is a true branch of the Catholic Church, 
and of their conviction that it was their consequent duty to be 
admitted into her communion. On the 27th of October, 1722, 
it was voted to excuse Cutler from the Rectorship, and from that 
time all Presidents of the College were required to conform to 
the Savbrook Platform. 

We have the authority of Dr. Cutler's contemporaries for 
saying that he was " a man of profound and general learning 
in the various branches of knowledge cultivated in his day, 
particularly in Oriental literature," and that "he presided over 
the Seminary which he was called to superintend with dignity, 
•usefulness and general approbation." The Rev. Dr. Styles 
asserted that " he had more knowledge of the Arabic than sCnj 
other man in New England before him, except President 
Chauncy, and his disciple the first Mr. Thacher." He was 
well skilled in logic, metaphysics, moral philosophy, theology 
and ecclesiastical history. He spoke Latin with fluency. He 
was a noble orator, and a man of great dignity and commanding 
presence. His position, reputation and great influence made 
his renunciation of the views generally held, and his conformity 



9 



to the Church of England, events of vast magnitude, involving 
consequences which no man could estimate. " His conver- 
sion, " says Mr. Quincy, " shook New England like an earth- 
quake." When the appalling news came to Joseph Webb of 
Fairfield, he wrote plaintively to Cotton Mather, I apprehend 
the axe is hereby laid to the root of our civil and sacred 
enjoyments." 

Many earnest, faithful men followed Cutler and his friends 
into the Episcopal Church, bringing with them the conscien- 
tiousness and self-sacrificing devotion to truth, which induced 
them to renounce the views in which they had been educated, 
and being natives of the country, and accustomed to New Eng- 
land ways, they were more useful than clergymen educated in 
England. When Mr. Beach, who had been one of Cutler's 
pupils, renounced Congregationalism, a shrewd matron wisely 
observed, that " she knew Mr. Beach w^ould turn churchman, 
for she never heard of any one that kept reading churcli books 
but what always did." 

Some ill-natured persons, who could not believe that any 
one was capable of making great sacrifices for the sake of doing 
right, said that Cutler had long been at heart a churchman 
and that he waited until there was to be a new church in 
Boston, to which he mighthope to be appointed, before declaring 
publicly what he had held privately. The Rev. Henry Harris, 
assistant to the Minister of King's Chapel, accused him of insin- 
cerity in a communication sent to the Bishop of London, which, 
if it ever reached him, remained unnoticed. On the 22d of 
June, 1724, Harris, who was never friendly to Cutler, and who 
^charged him with holding popish and jacobite principles, wrote to 
the Bishop's successor that " the motive of this person's conver- 
sion was the prospect of a new church in this town," and that 
his behavior is so imprudent, his notions so wild and extrava- 
gant, and his principles so uncharitable," that " the church will 
never flourish under his care." The whole tone of the letter 
confirms the statement in a letter written by Samuel Johnson 
to the Bishop of London, Oct. 10, 1724, that Harris was dis- 

2 



10 



appointed because he was not himself chosen Rector of Christ 
Church. There can be no doubt of the sincerity of a man 
who relinquished the advantages of a highly honorable position, 
a good salary, a quiet, happj home, the esteem of a whole com- 
j^unity and the friendly intercourse of his ministerial brethren, 
and who said to those with whose ecclesiastical, yiews he had 
always agreed, " your opinions are unsound, and your ordina- 
tion is not yalid," who suffered his labors for the Divine Head 
of the Church to be interrupted until he coidd receive authority 
from the laying on of a Bishop's hands, and who exposed him- 
self to the dangers of two long voyages and of the fatal pesti- 
lence, that he might share in the reproach and sufferings and 
privations of the Episcopal Church in this land. Cutler was 
an honorable, christian gentleman, incapable of any thing mean. 
Upon his removal to New Haven the college paid X90 for his 
house in Stratford, and this sum he repaid when he was de- 
prived of the Presidency. 

On the 2nd of October 1722, the committee wrote to him 
the folloAving letter : — 

" We the Subscribers coDgratulate you and the gentlemen your friends 
on account of your late Declaration, and we pray to God it may have 
that happy influence on this country which some men so much dread and 
deprecate while others expect benefit by it. 

Sir, we being appointed a Committee for taking in subscriptions to 
build a new house for the Worship of God at the North end of Boston, (our 
present building not being capable to contain the people of the Church,) 
and having the hearty concurrence and prayers of the Rev. Mr. Samuel 
Myles in our undertaking, we have thought proper to acquaint you that 
we would have you come to Boston, and by what we have learnt from 
the gentlemen of the Church, we take upon us to assure you, that a 
passage shall be provided for you, and all things proper to support the 
character of a gentleman during your stay in London, whither with the 
approbation of the Eev. Mr. Samuel Myles, we shall send our humble 
petition to our Right Rev. Diocesan, My Lord Bishop of London, that 
after the Church that is now designed to be erected, he would be gra- 
ciously pleased to grant his License to you to preach in, the people here 
being willing to maiutain you. 

We desire that Mr. Brown, and Mr. Johnson, may come down with 
you in order to accompany you to London, which gentlemen shall like- 
wise be our care to procuring them a passage and doing them all the 
services in our power. We make no question but that you will all be 
very kindly received by the Rt. Rev. the Bishops, botli the Universities, 
and the Hon'ble Society, and although your sincerity,' Mr. Cutler, is called 
in question by the Rev. Mr. Henry Harris, yet we hope your future be- 



11 



havionr will fully demonstrate your integrity. And if that worthy gen- 
tleman should by some wicked men be unhappily persuaded to persist in 
his (.pillion yet, notwithstandino-, we assure you, Sir, that your coraiuf^ 
to Boston, by ti\e month of November, will be very grateful to the 
Church here, and you all may depend upon an hearty welcome from the 
Rev. Mr. Samuel Myles, the whole body of the Church and in a particular 
manner from 

Gentlemen, your friends and very humble servants, 

John Barnes, 
Thomas Gkaves, 
Geo. Cradock, 
Anth. Blount, 
John Gibbons, 
Thos. Selbey, 
Geo. Monk. 

P. S. — We assure you that care shall be taken of your spouse and 
children, either here or where else you please, till your return from 
Britain. We expect a positive answer by the bearer of this letter." 

Cutler, Johnson and Brown came to Boston, where they 
were cordially welcomed and hospitably entertained. Their 
passages were paid', and a sum of money subscribed for Mr. 
Cutler's subsistence while at London. Taking with them the 
fullest testimonials from Mr. Myles and others, they sailed 
from Boston on the 5th of November, arrived at Ramsgate on 
the 15th December, 1722, and went the same day to Canter- 
bury, where they had to wait three days for the stage coach 
to take them to London. The Cathedral, and the solemn and 
magnificent services filled them with admiration. They went 
to the Deanery, and having no letters to any persons of dis- 
tinction in Canterbury, sent in w^ord that three gentlemen 
from America, who had come over for Holy Orders, desired to 
pay their respects to the Dean. It so happened that the Dean, 
Dr. Stanhope, was presiding at a dinner given to the members 
of the Cathedral Body, and they were then reading the Decla^ 
ration of Cutler and his friends from a London paper. The 
Dean himself came to the door to greet them, and as they en- 
tered, every one rushed forward to grasp their hands, and they 
were urged to repeat the whole story. 

At London they were most kindly received by the. Bishop, 
and Dr. Grandorge, one of the Prebendaries of Canterbury, 
who was Chaplain to the Earl of Thanet, gave each of them ten 



12 



guineas from the Earl for the purchase of books and afterwards 
procured his Lordship's subscription of £90 for this Church. 
The ordination of the three candidates was delayed by the 
illness of Mr. Cutler, who suffered from a severe attack of 
small-pox, the disease so fatal to Americans visiting England. 
When he recovered, tlie Bishop of London, Dr. Robinson, was 
lying at the point of death, and Cutler, Johnson and Brown, 
were ordained at St. M .ri n's Church, by the Bishop of Nor- 
wich, Dr. Green, in March 1723. Mr. Brown took the small- 
pox and died on Easter Eve. Mr. Cutler received the de- 
gree of Doctor of Sacred Theology from both the Universities 
of Oxford and Cambridge and Mr. Johnson that of Master of 
Arts. On the 26th of June Dr. Cutler, after making the 
usual declaration of conformity to the Liturgy of the Church of 
England, was licensed by the Bishop of London to officiate in 
Massachusetts. He left England in July, and reached Boston, 
on the 24th of September. 

Dr. Cutler was one of the missionaries of the Society for 
propagating the Gospel in foreign parts. That venerable 
Society, to which this parish is indebted for assistance in the sup- 
port and maintenance of its clergymen from the opening of the 
Church until our separation from England, was founded in 
1701, " for the conversion of our own people, Indians and ne- 
groes." Dr. Cutler's reports to the Secretary of the Society, 
published in the third volume of " Perry's Historical Collec- 
tions of the American Colonial Church," furnish a complete 
history of Christ Church during his incumbency of forty-two 
years. In his first letter to the Secretary, dated Jan. 4, 1724, 
he writes, " on the last Sunday I preached in our new Church, 
that being the first time of our assembling in it. It is not yet 
finished, 'but \\orkmen are daily employed upon it, and we put 
it into as good a posture as we could to receive an audience. 
Our Church was very much crowded with hearers, and the 
prayers of the Church were performed in a very regular man- 
ner, and yet there was scarcely an}^ apparent diminution of the 



13 



attendants at the other Church in Boston." There were no 
parochial bounds, and about eighty families belonged to this 
parish. Divine Service was held on Sundays, and although 
somewhat interfered with by the workmen, on some particular 
festivals, besides the days of fast and thanksgiving enjoined by 
the authorities. The Church was ordinarily full with constant 
and transient hearers. The Lord's Supper was administered 
once a month to about forty communicants. On the 23rd of 
September, 1725, he reports twenty-two baptized since the 
December previous, and "seventy-five Communicants, seven- 
teen whereof live out of town," and he adds, " it is with a 
great deal of pleasure and truth that I let the Hon. Society 
know that I live in peace and love with a numerous and very 
increasino; cono-reo-ation, who are verv constant and very de- 
vout at our public worship." In these returns, made generally 
twice a year, we find the number of baptisms increasing to 
thirty-seven, while the luimber of Communicants reaches 
mnety-four, as many as seventy attending at one time. Many 
are drawn into the Church, especially the young; the people 
constantly and reverently attend public worship ; the Congre- 
gation numbers full eight hundred persons ; and with evident 
satisfaction the good Doctor says, my parish is in peace." 
On Christmas Day, 1748, he had eighty-one at the Commu- 
nion, besides a very large congregation of dissenters and others, 
although it was a Sunday, and on the next day, he wrote to the 
Secretary " My congregation is rather on the increase, though 
my church is situated to the least advantage for it of any in 
this town, and I hope it will keep on the increasing hand since 
God has blest us with that peace and unity which is a very 
promising symptora of it." In 1750, he speaks of his own 
Church as the smallest of the three Episcopal Churches of 
Boston and the most inconveniently situated for growth. It 
was surrounded by elegant mansions, the residences of the rich 
gentlemen of that age, but several of the families who lived here 
in almost regal splendor, and with whom Dr. Cutler was a 



14 

welcome guest, appear to have attended King's Chapel. Christ 
Church was never, in the Colonial times, a self-supporting 
parish. 

Humphrey's historical account of the Society for propagating 
the Gospel says, that " the members of Christ Church have in 
many respects proved themselves a worthy people, very devout 
in the public worship and conscientious in their lives and 
actions." Sir Harry Frankland, who lived on Garden Court 
street^next to Gov. Hutchinson, and to whose house Benjamin 
Franklin came as a newsboy, wrote in lY48, Christ Church 
has a large tower, a fine ring of eight bells, a beautiful steeple, 
and having an elevated situation it may be accounted a noble 
structure for this part of the world." 

In our parish library are some fine copies of folio editions of 
standard English theological books, presented by " the vener- 
able Society " and bearing their seal, a missionary on the prov/ 
of a ship holding out the Gospel to natives on the shore, with 
the motto : Transiens adjuva nos^ and surrounded by the 
words, Sigillitm Societatis de p'omovendo Evangelio {wpartihus 
transmarinis. 

In December 1746, Dr. Cutler acknowledges the goodness 
of the Rev. Mr. Dechair in the books already presented by him 
and the addition he designs to them for a Parochial Library in 
this Town and the Society's goodness in allotting that benefit 
to this parish, adding, " we shall show our gratitude in provid- 
ing a convenient place for them ; and I promise for myself and 
hope for my successors the greatest care to preserve the books 
from hurt and embezzlement and to make the best advantages 
we can of such a pious donation." 

April 7, 1728, Dr. Cutler wrote to Dr. Z. Grey that a 
young man had given by will X130, of which <£30 was for the 
poor, also the residue of his estate to be equally divided be- 
tween Christ Church and the college for the education of Epis- 
copal scholars, adding "It is said the college will reject the 
gift as they once did an organ willed them for the service of 
Almighty God." 



15 



In tae replies to the queries addressed to the ministers em- 
ployed by the Venerable Society, in 1724, Dr. Cutler stated 
that this Church had no Communion plate besides a silver cup. 
That is the smaller of the two Chalices on which are the words 
" The gift of Captain Thomas Tudor to Christ Church, in 
Boston, 1724." The gold and silver received in the collections 
were set apart for the purpose of procuring additional vessels 
for the Communion service, and the offerings on the day of 
thanksgiving, Nov. 13, 1729, were devoted to the same object. 
Two of the larcre flao-ons were procured with these contribu- 
tions, and they are marked "Belonging to Christ Church, 
Boston, New England, A. D. 1729." The name and arms of 
Leonard Yassall are on a Patten given by him in 1730. The 
massive christening basin bears the inscription, " The gift of 
Arthur Savage, Esq., to Christ Church in Boston, 1730," and 
the arms of his family. On two of the flagons, the larger chalice, 
a patten, and a plate called " a receiver," and used to receive 
the alms and other devotions of the people, may be seen the 
royal arms, with the words " The gift of his Majesty King 
George II., to Christ Church at Boston, in New England, at 
the request of his excellency governour Belcher, 1733." There 
is also an oval vessel with a cover, which was presented in 
1815 by Mrs. Hannah Smith. 

Besides the silver, King George II. gave to this Church a 
folio Bible, two folio Prayer Books, bound in Turkey leather, 
and twelve others bound in calf, gilt, together with book-marks 
made of ribbon similar to that worn by the noble order of the 
Garter, and trimmed with gold fringe, an altar piece, cushions, 
carpets, damask, and two surplices of fine holland. Two 
Prayer Books were reserved for the use of the Governor and 
Lieutenant Governor, and two were placed in the Wardens' 
pew. The Royal Bible was placed upon the Reading Desk by 
vote of the Vestry. It was at one time discarded and con- 
signed to a closet. It has been restored to its position and is 
regularly used in divine service. It was printed at Oxford in 



16 



1717 by John Baskett, and is celebrated for the elegance of the 
printing and the engravings. An error, not in the text, but 
in the heading at the top of the page, at the 20th Chapter of 
St. Luke, has given it the name of the Vinegar Bible, by 
which it is well known to bibliographers. Three copies of this 
edition were printed on vellum, one for the King, one for the 
Duke of Marlborough's library and one for the Bodleian library. 
Four of the Prayer Books remain, and having been adapted to 
the American Service, are now in use. 

Gov. Belcher, to whose favorable representations of Christ 
Church, this parish is indebted for the King's generous gifts, 
was a Congregationalist, and when he was appointed Governor, 
Dr. Cutler expressed his fears of the injurj^ that he might do to 
the Church here in a letter to the Bishop of London, dated 
Feb. 24, 1730. " This Gentleman '' he writes, " is a pro- 
fessed Dissenter, and perhaps in New England he never was at 
Church on any Sunday or other festival in his whole life, and 
lately refused to marry his daughter to a young gentleman 
baptized and brought up in the Church of England before he 
absolutely promised to forsake the Church, which he has 
accordingly done." In 1731 Gov. Belcher was so unfortunate 
as to appoint a fast on the 25th of March. Dr. Cutler and Mr. 
Price waited upon him, and told him that it was Lady Day, 
and a Festival of the Church of England. The Governor very 
courteously said that had he known it he would have taken 
some other day. Mr. Price was so rude as to tell him he be- 
lieved it was done purposely to afPront the Church, and the 
Governor writing an account of the interview to the Bishop of 
London, says, that he would have " treated Mr. Price very 
roughly" had it not been "in regard to Dr. Cutler and Mr. 
Harwood, who behaved themselves consistent with their char- 
acter ;" and he adds that they " have acquired so much respect 
and reputation not only by their preaching but by their virtu- 
ous and regular lives that they have the good will of all who 
have the pleasure of their acquaintance." Dr. Cutler's good 
temper, forbearance and suavity of manner seem to have se- 



17 



cured the kind regard of Gov. Belcher, and without doubt, his 
interest in the welfare of Christ Church was founded upon his 
respect for its Rector. 

The bells were procured by subscription. They are eight 
in number. The lightest Nveighs 620 lbs. and the heaviest 
1545 lbs. They cost ^£560 in England. The freight was 
given by Mr. John Rowe, and the charges for wheels and 
putting them in place amounted to <£ 93. The inscriptions on 
them tell their story so fully that we let them speak for them- 
selves. The tenor, first, says, " This peal of eight bells is the 
gift of a number of generous persons to Christ Church in Bos- 
ton, New England, Anno 1744, A.R." The second, " This 
Church was founded in the year 1723, Timothy Cutler, Doctor 
in Divinity, the first rector, A.R., 1744." The third says, 
" We are the first ring of bells cast for the British Empire, in 
North America, A. R., 1744." The fourth exclaims, "God 
preserve the Church of England, 1744." The fifth commem- 
orates, " William Shirley, Esq., Governour of the Massachusetts 
Bay in N. E., Anno 1744." The sixth tells us, " The subscrip- 
tion for these bells was begun by lohn Hammock and Robt. 
Temple, Church Wardens, Anno 1743, compleated by Robert 
Jenkins and Ino. Gould, Church Wardens, 1744." The 
seventh adds, " Since generosity has opened our mouths, our 
tongues shall ring aloud its praise, 1744;" and the eighth con- 
cludes, " Abel Rudhall of Gloucester cast us all, Anno 1744." 

These bells are provided with wheels for round ringing, but 
they are now struck by means of cords attached to the tongues 
instead of being rung as they were formerly. They are remark- 
able for purity of tone, sweetness and harmony. They may 
still be heard, as m the olden time, during the week preceding 
.and the week following Christmas, filling the night air with 
the glad tidings that angels brought in the night to the shep- 
herds in the field. They mourn with those who bear away 
their dead, peal merrily at marriages, and help us to compose 
our thoughts as we ascend the hill to this House of Prayer. 

/ 3 



18 



When Charlestown bridge was opened, on the ITtli of June 
1786, they joined ^yith tlie guns at the Castle, on Copp's hill 
and on Bunker hill in celebrating the union of the two towns, 
and in a few days they may welcome the city of Charlestov»'n 
to a closer union. 

The first organ was brought from Newport in 1736. Mr. 
William Price, who was very active in all parish matters, 
not only went to Newport to examine it but also offered 
to play upon it gratuitously for one year, after which he 
was to have a salary of ten ponnds per quarter. Some 
years afterwards when Mr. Greaton, Dr. Cutler's assistant, 
was sent to England for orders, he was requested to bring 
back with him an organist who liad some trade — if possible 
a barber — whom the congregation might improve in his occupa- 
tion." Tlie second organ was made by Thos. Johnston in 
1759. The interior of this oro-an was rebuilt bv Mr. Goodrich 
about fifty years ago. The four figures of cherubim in front of 
the organ, and the two chandeliers were presented in 1746 
by the Captain, John Grushea, and the owners of tlie British 
Privateer named the Queen of Hangar i/^ and were taken from 
a French vessel. 

Our ancient records, and the ponderous account books, kept 
with scrupulous care and wonderful penmanship, give the names 
of generous friends who contributed towards the cost of the 
church, organ and bells. They refer to the courtesies extend- 
ed to the new parish of Trinity Church, to a dinner given to 
the clergy Avho held a convention in this Church in 1738, and 
to the concrratulations offered to Gov. Shirlev, on the arrival of 
his commission in 1741, when the Wardens and Vestry waited 
upon his Excellency, of course in full dress, with Dr. Cutler m 
his Canonicals. 

At every meeting of the New England clergy our first Rec- 
tor seems to have taken the lead. His long and useful ministry 
forms a large portion of the history of the Church in Massachu- 
setts. While he avoided controversy with those who differed 
from him in theological views, he was zealous in contending for 



19 



the Church, fx'fhfnl in preacliing the gospil and mdustrious in 
extendino' the borders of the Kino^dom of the Lord. His acces- 
sion to the Episcopal Church made it a formidable body, and 
Cotton Mather in order to strengthen the Independants and 
secure their exclusive rule, requested, in the name of the assem- 
bled ministers of his denomination, that a Synod might be 
called. Cutler and Myles presented a memorial to the Cov- 
ernor and to the General Court, remonstratino; ao;ainst this 
measure, and sent a copy of the memorial to the Bishop of 
London. The energetic measures taken by Dr. Cutler, in 
which he was assisted by his friend Mr. John Checkley, secured 
an order from the Lords in Council, forbiddino- the meetino; of 
the Synod. 

After Dr. Cutler's conversion the policy of excluding Church 
of England clergymen from the Board of Overseers of Har- 
vard College was resolved upon. Harris, who held a seat at 
the Board was no longer summoned, and Cutler and Myles 
were not notified of the meeting. Cutler, who was always on 
the alert to vindicate the rights of his order, claimed that they 
were entitled to seats as teaching elders in one of the six 
neighboring towns. Arrayed against him was the whole 
power of the Lidependants who ruled College and State. It 
seemed to be a hopeless task to attempt to move them. A man 
of less courtage and zeal and conscientious fidelity to his Church 
and her Divine Lord, would have desisted from an undertaking 
that could only render him unpopular. Yet Cutler persevered 
until it w^as finally decided, on the 16th of June, 1730, that it 
was not " within the intent and meaning of the act of 1642, 
that Cutler and Myles ought to be deemed members of the 
Board of Overseers." 

Dr. Cutler was a zealous missionary. He founded the 
Church at Dedham and officiated there once a month. Besides 
caring for^the Church at Braintree, he preached frequently at 
Mendon, Stoughton, Sudbury, Billerica and Scituate. His 
proceedings at Scituate having been misrepresented in an abusive 



20 



article in the Boston News Letter^ of Aug. 19, 1725, a paper 
claiming to be published bj authority, he wrote to Gov. Dum- 
mer denouncing the statements in the paper as tending to the 
ruin of his reputation, the disadvantage of his labours in religion, 
the discouragement of any missionary in the faithful discharge 
of his duty, and the injury of the Church of England," and 
demanding " reparation to his character and protection for his 
Church." Inconsequence of tins spirited remonstrance. Gov. 
Dummer ordered that the words, "published by authority," 
should be removed from the paper. 

Dr. Cutler's sympathy was extended towards the Episcopa- 
lians in Xew England, who were taxed to support the Indepen- 
dant teachers, and to pay for building and repairing their meeting 
houses, and who, if they failed to pay these taxes, were deprived 
of their goods and thrown into prison. As many as thirty 
were in prison on this account at one time in a single town. 
These facts were stated in a petition signed by Cutler and 
others, addressed to the King. This petition was referred to a 
Committee of the Council to inquire Avhether the Acts of the 
Assembly were contrary to the New England charter, but 
no action was ever taken upon the subject. In our records 
are accounts of the proceedings of several joint meetings of the 
Vestries of King's Chapel and of Christ Church, held to take 
measures for the relief of those who were fined and imprisoned 
for not supporting a ministry and mode of worship of which 
their consciences did not approve. The following are among 
the votes adopted, " That the committee be empowered to de- 
fend any Churchman that shall be presented for travelling t© 
or coming from any Church of England, throughout this pro- 
vhice for the worship of God," and " That the Committee be 
empowered to defend the Church of England Ministers in case 
they should be prosecuted in any of the courts of this province 
for marrying according to the custom of marrying in the 
Church of England, provided the said ministers do marry ac- 
cording to the usage in the Common Prayer Book and Canons 
of the said Church." 



21 



The rulers of the land in those clays claimed that they and 
their fathers had left their native soil and comfortable homes, 
tempted the foaming billows, and rested in the howling wilder- 
ness amidst untamed beasts and savage men, to escape from 
spiritual tyranny -which took the form of taxation for the sup- 
port of a ministry whose rites and doctrines their consciences 
could not approve. It may be said in their defence that they 
were no worse than those who tyrannized over them in Eng- 
land, but their advocates cannot maintain that New England 
was settled in order to propagate civil and religious liberty. 

From the day of his ordination to the close of his ministry 
Dr. Cutler never ceased, as he had opportunity, to urge the 
appointment of a Bishop for America. But the King w^as 
indifferent, and the ministry were unwilling to incur the 
enmity of the Dissenters, and for political reasons they refused 
the petitions of the Clergy at home and in the provinces. 
Earnest and good men were lost to the ministry of the Church 
because they could not go " home for orders.'' Of those who 
went, one-fifth died. Confirmation was never administered. 
The scattered clergy were discouraged. Yet, under all the diffi- 
culties arising from the w^ant of Episcopal oversight, and from the 
hostility of the dominant sect in New England, Dr. Cutler la- 
bored without ceasing until the infirmities of age comipelled him 
to rest. During the last nine years of his life he was unable to 
perform public duty.. He died on the 17th of August, 1765. 
In the funeral sermon preached by Dr. Caner, his former 
pupil, and his friend of many years, he is described as " a w^ise, 
a learned, and pious man, a good christian, a faithful steward 
of the mysteries of God, a tried soldier and champion of Jesus 
Christ, who, in prospect of the recompense of reward that 
was set before him, despised the frowms and flatteries of the 
world, maintained his great Master's cause with undaunted 
courage and steadfast resolution, and is now, we trust, entered 
into the possession of the joy of his Lord." 

He was buried under the chancel, and upon a small slab 
may be read the following inscription ; — 



22 



*' Here Lves entombed the Body of the Kevd. 
TIMOTHY CUTLER, D.D., first minister of this 
Church, deceased Augst 17th, 1765. aired 81 years. 
Also the Body of Mrs. ELIZAth CUTLER, widow 
of the above, died Sept the 12th, 1771, aged 81 years." 

During tlie first part of Dr. Cutler's long illness his duties 
were performed by the other clergy of Boston. James Greaton, 
who graduated at Yale College in j 754, offered to act as lay 
reader, and his services were accepted. On the 23rd of Oct. 
17o9, the Wardens and Vestry gave him a letter of recommen- 
dation, addressed to the Bishop of London, requesting that he 
might be ordained, and appointed to serve as Dr. Cutler's 
assistant. Mr. Greaton went to England, received Deacon's 
and Priest's orders, and returned to Boston, where he arrived 
on the 30th of May, 1760. 

After Dr. Cutler's death an unpleasant controversy arose in 
the congregation, sadly disturbing the peace and harmony so 
long enjoyed under the first Rector. Long letters v/ere written 
to the Secretary of the Venerable Society on the subject. The 
Wardens requested that Mr. Greaton should be appointed suc- 
cessor to Dr. Cutler, but Robert Jenkins and others sent a 
remonstrance against the appointment. Meetings of the pro- 
prietors were held. Every one's right to vote was carefully 
scrutinized, and it was found that seventeen of those who signed 
the remonstrance were not proprietors of pews. The others 
yielded to the wishes of the majority, and Mr. Greaton was 
recommended by a unanimous vote. Finding it however im- 
possible to unite the congregation in his favor, even after this 
decisive vote, Mr. Greaton wrote to the Secretary of the 
Society on the 28th of August, 1767, requesting a removal 
from this mission. 

At this time, as we learn from the letter of the Wardens, the 
Church was " commonly well filled with an orderly and well 
behaved congregation, tho' poor," and being situated " at the 
North part of the Town where the inhabitants were not so 
wealthy as those near the other Churches," they had " a larger 
proportion of the poor to support by charity." 



23 



Tlie Wardens were very ranch disappointed when they found 
that the parties w^ho were at variance could not be united in 
Greaton's favor. They did not presume to determine where 
the fault lay, but made this general observation, that " every 
man is not endowed with faculties to make himself serviceable 
and agreeable in all places," and then tried to find a person in 
whom they might form a union. They providentially heard of 
Mr. Mather Byles, a recent convert from Congregationalism. 
He was the son of Dr. Mather Byles, Pastor of HoUis street 
Church, graduated at Harvard College in 1751 and was 
ordained to the Congregational ministry, at New London, in 
1757, when he was twenty-three years old. He relinquished 
his charge in April, 1768, to enter a communion which he con- 
scientiously preferred, proving his sincerity by returning to the 
people among whom he was settled the whole sum of <£180 
given to him when he first came to them. The proprietors of 
this Church on Easter Monday, 1768, empowered and instruct- 
ed the Wardens and Vestry to invite Mr. Byles to be their 
minister. They also raised a sum of money to assist in pay- 
ing his expenses in going to England for orders, and agreed to 
give him ^100 per annum. He accepted the invitation, came 
to Boston, and sailed for England, taking with him the proper 
testimonials to be laid before the Bishop of London. After his 
Ordination he was appointed missionary by the Venerable So- 
ciety and returned to Boston, where he arrived on the 28th of 
September, and was cordially received by his parishioners. 
He found one hundred famiHes and fifty communicants. He 
was a faithful and laborious pastor. In our P^egister w^e find 
ninety-eight baptisms recorded by him in a single year. He 
w^as a gentleman of amiable character and a very acceptable 
preacher, and might have continued to be Rector of Christ 
Church for many years had it not been for the breaking out of 
the War that separated the colonies from the motlier country. 
In a difference that unhappily occurred between him and his 
congregation he nobly yielded his just claims for the sake of 



» 



24 

peace. The Society for propagating the Gospel made him an 
allowance of <£40 a year, in addition to the £100 voted by the 
Parish, but the people, thinking themselves entitled to one-half 
of the Society's bounty, refused to pay him more than X80 a 
year. Dr. Byles being encouraged by the Secretary to main- 
tain his rights, manifested his dissent from the view taken by 
the proprietors, by declining to officiate for two Sundays, and 
eighteen of his friends surrendered their seats. But when he 
found that the good of the Church demanded the sacrifice he 
acquiesced with their proposals and returned to his charge. 
Like his father, he was a staunch loyalist, and the revolutionary 
spirit was already at work in his own congregation. Some 
remained, like their minister, true to their old allegiance ; but 
manv sympathized with the friends of liberty, and Dr. Byles 
finding that an implacable spirit prevailed, communicated to his 
Vestry, on Easter Tuesday, 1775, an invitation which he had 
received to become the minister of St. John's Church, Ports- 
mouth, H. The result was their parting by mutual consent. 

The last baptism recorded by his hand was on the 11th of 
April, the last burial on Easter Eve, April the loth, and the 
last marriage on the 17th. The 18th of April, Easter Tuesday 
1775, is a memorable day in our annals, connecting the his- 
tory of this Church with that of the Xation. It was the last 
day of the Rectorship of a clergyman owing allegiance to the 
King of Great Britain. That evening, the Sexton of Christ 
Church, Robert Newman, sat quietly in his house on Salem 
street, opposite Bennett street, assuming an unconcerned look 
and manner to avert the suspicion of the English officers who 
were quartered upon him, but impatiently expecting the arrival 
of a friend, a sea captain, who was watching the movements 
of the Regulars. On the other side of the river was Paul 
Revere, v\'aiting for them to communicate to him the intentions 
of the English. 

If the British march 
By land or sea from the town to uight 



25 



Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch 

Of the North Church tower as a signal light : 

One if by land and two if by sea : 

And I on the opposite shore will be 

Ready to ride and spread the alarm 

Through every Middlesex village and farm 

For the country folk to be up and to arm." 



Mr. Newman succeeded in eludino; the vigilance of his un- 

welcome guests, took down the church keys, and with two 

lanterns in his hand, w^ent out, met his friend, heard the news 

he brought, opened the church door and locked it again after 

him, and w^ent 

" Up the wooden stairs with stealthy tread 
To the belfry chamber over head 
And startled the pigeons from their perch 
On the sombre rafters that round him made 
Masses and moving shapes of shade, 
Up the light ladder slender and tall 
To the highest window in the wall." 

Paul Revere, from Charlestown, hj his horse's side 

" "Watched with eager search 
The belfry tower of the old North Church 
As it rose above the graves ou the hill 
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still 
And lo ! as he looks on the belfry's height 
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light; 
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns 
But lingers and gazes till full on his sight 
A second lamp in the belfry burns." 



The twin lights from this steeple waked the fires of wa . 
and symbolized two mighty changes. The colonies becan 
an independent nation, and the Church of England in this lai 
is the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. If 
Robert Newman's courage or patience, or firmness or self- 
control had failed him for an instant, Paul Revere would have 
looked in vain", across the dark waters at the tall steeple rising 
above Copp's hill. When his task was done Mr. Newman 
came down, passed through the Church, jumped out of a back 
window, went round through Unity and Bennett streets to his 
house, and succeeded in entering it without being observed. 
The British found him in bed. They arrested him and threw 



26 



him into jail. But he had taken such wise precautions that 
nothing could be proved, and he was set at liberty. 

Dr. Byles writes, that when his Yestry accepted his resigna- 
tion he agreed to go to Portsmouth, but the very next day the 
war broke out, and there came no reply to his letter of accept- 
ance. New England was in an uproar. Boston was besieged. 
It was impossible to attempt a removal, and Portsmouth itself 
was in the most distracted state imaginable. Christ Church 
was closed on that memorable night. Of the loyal clergy 
Sargent of Cambridge and Vreeks of Marblehead fled for their 
lives. Byles, Caner and Walter, with one or tvro who had 
taken refuge in Boston, met with difficulty and distress in every 
shape. Those who were on the British side were exposed in 
town to famine, and in the country to the sword. All who 
could, left for England or the Provinces. Christ Church, 
Cambridge, wa5 used as a barracks by the Americans. Dr. 
Byles offered to officiate in his old Church, but his proposal 
was treated with neglect. He lost his salary and his property, 
he says, " in the ruins of his country." Shut out from this 
church he visited the hospitals, preached as he had opportunity, 
baptized thirty-eight and attended fifty-six funerals. 

Dr. Byles could not forget that he was a subject of the King 
of Great Britain and bound to him by his oath of allegiance. 
He had promised to conform to the English Liturgy. He was 
a minister under the- jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, and 
in the employment of the Society for propagating the Gospel. 
He could not cease to considei t::r Ivmg the Sovereign of this 
country, unless he should relinquish the right to govern it. 
He went into exile, in povert} , because it was right, cheering 
himself with the promise, " Fear none of those things which 
thou shalt suffer. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give 
thee a crown of life." He went to Halifax in 1776, being 
" well convinced that if the government should not be re-estab- 
lished no Episcopal Church would be tolerated in New Eng- 
land." He is named in the act of 1778, which proscribed and 
banished Gov. Hutchinson, Gov. Bernard and many of the 



27 



most respectable men of Boston. By this decree it was enact- 
ed that if any of the persons named in it should return, it be- 
came the duty of every person to apprehend them and bring 
them before a justice of the peace, who was required to commit 
them to jail, there to remain until they could be sent out of the 
state into the dominions of the King of Grreat Britain ; and if 
they returned again they were to suffer the pains of death, 
without benefit of clergy. 

At Halifax Dr. Byles was appointed Chaplam to the Garri- 
son, and Assistant to Dr. Breynton, Rector of St. Paul's, by 
whose kind generosity the refugee clergy were greatly aided. 
Dr. Breynton's portrait hangs in our Vestry-room with those 
of Drs. Cutler, AValter and Caner. In 1788 Dr. Byles was 
appointed Rector of the Parish of St. John, New Brunswick, 
on the death of the first rector, the Rev. George Bissett. He 
died on the 12th of March, 18 L4, in his eightieth year. His 
first wife was Dr. Walter's sister. His second wife was Sarah 
Lyde, to whom he was married in 1777, at Halifax. 

In Trinity Church, St. John, is a mural tablet with the fol- 
lowing inscription : 

Sacred 
To the memory of the 
Rev. Mather Byles, D.D., 
Rector of this Parish 
and 

Chaplain of the Garrison 

Twenty-five years 
Died on the 12th of March 
1814 

In his ^Oth year. 
Father into thy hands I commend my spirit 
St. Luke c. 23, v. 46. 

This monument was erected 
By his affectionate wife 

S. Byles. 

The Episcopal Church was paralyzed by the rending asunder 
of the ties which bound its members to the home of their 
fathers. The support of the Venerable Society was with- 
drawn. In the minds of the people the English Church was 
identified with the British Government. Bishops were mem- 
bers of the aristocracy. Our forms of prayer contained pe- 



28 



titions for the King. There were a few clergymen who felt 
themselves absolved from their oaths of allegiance by the Dec- 
laration of Independence, and they gathered the feeble, scat- 
tered fragments of our older churches. In 1778 the French 
Congregation, as it was then called, received from the Ameri- 
can Government leave to use this church, which had been 
closed since the breaking out of the war, and it came very near 
being lost to our communion, but those proprietors who had 
remained in town when the British left, persuaded the Rev; 
Mr. Parker, of Trinity Church, afterwards Bishop of Massachu- 
setts, to preach in it every Sunday afternoon, " by which 
means," says Mr. Weeks in his account of the state of the 
Church in 1778, " it remains untouched." The first minister 
who officiated regularly was the Rev. Stephen Lewis, who 
took charge of the parish from August 1778 to September 
1784. By a vote of the Vestry in 1779, Mr. Lewis was 
" desired to prepare a proper form of prayer for the Congress 
of the United States, for the several States, and for their suc- 
cess in the present important contest, to be used daily in the 
church." The prayers for the King and Royal family were 
omitted, and in other respects the clergy of those days conformed 
to the English Liturgy. One of our old Prayer B oks has 
paper pasted over the " State Prayers," and was probably used 
by Mr. Lewis. 

Between 1784 and 1787 the north wall of the church was 
covered with clapboards to protect it from the weather. This 
must have been a heavy tax upon the resources of the thirteen 
proprietors and the small congregation of that time. Many 
were the expedients to which the Vestry resorted to pay the 
debts of the church, and to keep the roof and steeple in repair. 
Even the communion plate was pledged to the creditors of the 
parish. Mr. WiUiam Montague, who graduated at Dartmouth 
College in 1784, was employed as a lay-reader in 1786, and 
at the request of the congregation he obtained Holy Orders in 
June 1787. He continued to officiate until 1792, but does 
not appear to have been the stated minister of the parish dur- 



! 

^1 



29 



ing all that period. On the 2d of August 1790, the Vestry 
voted to close with the offer of Mr. Joseph Warren as a reader. 
On the 6th of September the Wardens were appointed to wait 
on the Rev. Mr. Montague and desire him to preach on the 
following Sunday. At the same meeting it was voted that 
this church is destitute of a minister, and a committee was ap- 
pointed to wait on the Rev. Dr. Walter, " to lay before him 
the true state of this church, and ask him the question whether 
he will undertake to be the mhiister of this church in our pres- 
ent low circumstances." 

The Rev. William Walter was the son of the Rev. Nathan- 
iel Walter, a Congregational clergyman of Roxbury, and a 
direct descendant from the Rev. J^ehemiah Walter, who was 
the colleague, and afterwards the successor of the " Apostle 
Eliot" in the " first church " at Roxbury. 

William Walter, was born October 7, 1737, and graduated 
at Harvard College in 1756. After leaving college he 
taught a school in Salem, and subsequently received an 
appointment in the Custom House. When he became a 
convert to the Episcopal Church, Mr. Barnard, an emi- 
nent Congregational minister, recommended him to the Rev. 
Mr. Hooper, Rector of Trinity Church, in a letter dated 
October 15, 1763, as one of the best classical scholars in his 
class, adding, in his quaint language, " he is of that tender- 
ness and softness in complexion which would render him 
agreeable to people in sickness and distress when they have 
the best relish for the company of a clergyman." 

Mr. Walter went to England, was ordained by the Bishop 
of London, and was appointed assistant to Mr. Hooper in 
July 1764. After the death of Mr. Hooper, he became Rector 
of Trinity Church, where he continued to officiate until the 
breaking out of the Revolutionary War. Then feeling it to 
be his duty to observe his ordination vows and his oath of 
allegiance, and to continue to pray for the King, whom he 
was bound to honor and obey, he sacrificed his home, his 
property and his rectorship and went into exile. He was con- 



30 



scientiously loval to what he considered his country, and to 
the laws both of the Church of Eno-land and of the Kino-dom 

a O 

of Great Britain. In consequence of his losses, which 
amounted to £7,000, he received a grant of land from the 
Crown in Sheiburne, Xova Scotia, where he resided for some 
years, having been appointed Eector of St. George's Church 
in that town. " His voice," wrote one who heard him preach 
there, " was clear, distinct, reverential, and exciting instanta- 
neous interest ; his manner uncommonly graceful yet dignified, 
and his sermon instructive, elegantly written, and well de- 
livered." A lady, who is descended from Dr. Walter, visited 
Sheiburne last summer and found St. George's Church almost 
precisely similar to our own church in its interior. The Dean, 
Dr. White, who was holding a service there, showed her 
Dr. Walter's letter of resignation, and introduced her to an 
old lady who remembered hearing her father say that the "light 
of the church went out when Dr. Walter left." Having come 
into the possession of property here through his wife, the 
daughter of Chief Justice Lynde, of Salem, Dr. Walter was 
obliged to make frequent journeys to Boston, and finding these 
long and tedious he was induced to return to this country. 
It was during one of his visits to Boston, in 1790, that he was 
invited to take charge of Christ Church. The acknowledg- 
ment of the Independence of the United States by Great Britain 
had removed every obstacle to his acceptance of the invitation, 
and on the 4th of October he informed the Vestry that he expect- 
ed to sail for Sheiburne, and he wished to know whether it was 
still their desire that on his return he should take on him the 
office of their minister. 

Mr. Montague finally declined ofiSciating any longer as the 
minister of this parish in May, 1792, and Dr. Walter was chosen 
Rector on the 29th of that month. He remained in charge of 
this parish for more than eight years, fulfilling the duties of 
his ofi&ce until the close of his earthly career. 

He lived in Charter street, in the house built by Sir William 
Phipps, which had a spacious court-yard, shaded by " solemn 

i 

ii 



31 



elms." He was a tall, handsome, and well proportioned man. 
He wore the full wig, dressed and powdered, and a three cor- 
nered hat, black cloth knee-breeches, black silk hose, and 
square quartered shoes, with large silver -bucldes. In the 
street he had on over his cassock and gown a long blue cloak, 
and even in republican days he maintained the dignity of the 
Church. He was happy in the possession of a genial temper- 
ament. His voice was clear, musical and well modulated, and 
lie is said to have read the service " like one inspired." 

He preached for the last time on the 23d of November, and 
died on the 5th of December, 1800. His funeral was attended 
by the clergy from neighboring towns, the officers stationed at 
the Navy Yard, the societies to which he belonged, and by 
citizens of all classes. Fifty pairs of black gloves, and as 
many scarfs of white linen, were given to the chief mourners, 
and the long procession, reaching from his house to Hanover 
street, after passing through several streets, came to the church, 
where, at the request' of the Vestry, the burial service was 
read by Dr. Gardiner, and the sermon was preached by Dr. 
Parker. His remains rest in the family tomb beneath the 
church. 

An obituary notice says of him, " In the death of this truly 
valuable minister religion mourns the loss of one of her most 
obedient children and brightest ornaments ; tlie church over 
which he presided a zealous pastor and her great glory ; hu- 
manity a firm friend : literature and science a scholar and 
support ; his disconsolate children a fond, instructive and dig- 
nified parent ; his other relations and acquaintances a most 
faithful counsellor, and the poor an upright steward and be- 
nevolent almoner." 

In 1789 an act of incorporation was procured from the 
General Court. In the same year this parish declined to send 
delegates to a proposed convention in Salem, as requested by 
St. Paul's Church, Newbury port, and appointed Dr. Parker 
to represent it in the General Convention on the 29th of Sep- 
tember, at Philadelphia. Delegates were chosen to represent 



32 



this parish in a Convention held in Boston in 1791, to prepare 
i a constitution for the government of the churches in this State, 
and it appears from the journals of our Diocesan Conventions 
that, in their annual meetings, there were lay delegates present 
from Christ Church, together with the minister for the time 
being. Our earliest volume of the Eecords of the Vestry, 
after alluding to many desperate struggles with poverty and 
debt, ends with Dr. Walter's funeral. The succeeding vol- 
ume is lost. 

In May 1801, the Eev. Samuel Haskell succeeded to the 
Rectorship, in which position he continued until September, 
1803, when he resigned to take charge of the Church in 
Gardiner, Maine. 

At that time our feeble and depressed parishes were glad 
to avail themselves of the services of young men who were pre- 
paring for the Congregational ministry, and who were willing 
to act as lay readers. William Jenks, afterwards the highly 
respected and well-known Dr. Jenks, of Boston, read the ser- 
vice in Christ Church, Cambridge, and there Asa Eaton, a 
college student, first became acquainted with the Liturgy of 
our Church. He was born at Plaistow, N. H. , July 25, 1778, 
and is supposed to have had in view, while engaged in classical 
studies, the ministry of the Congregationalists. Upon his 
graduation at Harvard College in 1803, he was invited to 
officiate as lay-reader in this Church. He accepted the invita- 
tion and entered upon the duties on the 23rd of October. He 
continued his studies, became convinced of the truth of the 
claims of the Episcopal Church, and prepared himself for the 
sacred ministry. In 1805 he was solicited by the congregation 
to apply for holy orders. Dr. Parker had been consecrated 
Bishop of Massachusetts, as successor to Bishop Bass, on the 
14th of September, 1804, and died on the 6th of December. 
There being no Bishop here, Mr. Eaton went to New York 
and was ordained deacon on the 31st of July, and priest on 
the 2nd of August, by Bishop Benjamin Moore, in Trinity 
Church in that city. 



33 



By the Divine blessing upon his faithful labors this parish 
rose in the course of twenty years, to a high state of prosperity. 
In 1812 there were sixteen baptisms, sixty communicants and 
as many families. The number of baptisms gradually increased 
to ninety-one in 1818, and the number of communicants to 
two hundred and twenty. Between 1805 and 1823, when he 
preached the centennial sermon in this church, Mr. Eaton had 
presented two hundred and thirty-eight for confirmation and 
admitted two hundred and seventy to the holy communion. 
The congregation numbered five hundred persons. When 
evening lectures were not common in our churches, and were 
regarded with suspicion by the more conservative of our clergy 
and people, Mr. Eaton established a third service on Sun- 
day evenings and maintained it for many years, although it 
was known that the labor was wearing upon his health, and so 
brought the Church to the knowledge of many who were entire 
strangers to her doctrines and worship. He devoted one eve- 
ning in the week to a parlor meeting for prayer and pastoral 
instruction. He extended his labors beyond his own parish, 
and took a prominent part in the formation of the Eastern 
Diocese and the election of Bishop Griswold, and was one of 
the few clergy, often not more than four, who attended our 
Diocesan Conventions. He held at one time the Rectorship 
of Christ Church, Cambridge, and supplied his own pulpit in 
order to officiate there from time to time. He extended the 
same care to the new St. Mary's Church, Newton Lower 
Falls, aided in the establishment of new Churches at South 
Boston and Lynn, and helped to keep alive the old parishes of 
Quincy, Marblehead and Bridgewater. " Li standing," says 
Dr. Edson, " the parish had become at least the second in the 
State. In point of life and efficiency, as a member of the 
whole, it was first. It was the point to which poor and feeble 
parishes instinctively addressed themselves." 

In June, 1815, Dr. Eaton, with the concurrence and help 
of his Wardens Shubael Bell and Thomas Clark, established 
the first Sunday School in this region. Young men, full of 



34 



zeal, came to help tlie new enterprise, and among tlie earlier 
teaclier? we find the names of many who became clergvmen, 
including the Rer. Dr. Edson, and Dr. Price of Xew York, 
and the late Dr. B. C. Cutler. It was at fii'st called the Salem 
street, Sunday School. Its sessions of two hours in the morning 
and one hour and a quarter in the afternoon, were held in the 
Academy that stood next to the ChiuTli on the north side. 
Afterwards the school met in the church galleries, and for a 
while in the Eliot school house. Mr. Joseph InoTaham, 
whose name is identified with oiu' public primary school system, 
was the energetic superintendent for twenty years. 

Mr. ShiibaelBell, the zealous and liberal coadjutor of his 
Eector in all church work, presented the Altar piece and the 
Decalogue, and also the Bust of AVashington. This bust, execut- 
ed by an Itahan artist, is said to have been carried in proces- 
sion when fimeral obsequies were performed in Boston after 
AVashington's death, and is supposed to have been the first 
monument erected in his honor. The picture of om- Saviour 
institiuing the last Supper was painted by. ]\Ir. Penniman. 
The descent of the Holy Spirit, represented by a dove, 
with three cherubs, over the chancel, was executed bv Mr. 
Johnson. Below this are the words, " This is none other 
than the House of God and this is the Gate of Heaven." Un- 
der the pictiu'e of oiu' Lord is the command, "Do this in 
remembrance of me," and beneath the tablets containing the 
Commandments, are the words, '' The law was given by 
Moses. Grace and Truth came by Jestis Christ." The two 
tablets of the law are separated by two other tablets on which 
are the Lord's Prayer and the Creed. 

Dr. Eaton received the degTee of S. T. D., from Columbia 
College in 1828. The next year, finding an infirmity of voice 
increasing, he resigned the Bectorslnp. He was a lover of 
truth and had a remarkable facidty for weigliing evidence. 
Cautious and scrupulotisly careful in making up his mind, he 
felt perfect confidence in the residt of his matm-e deliberation. 
His judgment was clear and sound. His love for the Chm-ch's 



35 



ways, and services, and customs was founded upon his firm 
conviction that the Church is right. After leaving this parish 
he became City Missionary. In 1837 he removed to ^ew 
Jersey to be chaplain and head of the family at St. Mary's 
Hall, Burhngton. He returned to Boston and passed the re- 
mainder of his days here. We remember him well, his vener- 
able form and his gracious demeanor. His long and useful 
life was extended over a period of almost four-score years. 
He died on the 24th of March, 1858, in his eightieth year. 

On the 18th of October, 1828, before it was known that 
Dr. Eaton thought of relinquishing his Rectorship, a committee 
was appointed to procure an assistant for him in his duties. 
They were informed by the Rev. Gr. W. Doane, of Trinity 
Church, afterwards the Bishop of New Jersey, that William 
Croswell, of Hartford, a poet and a scholar, was soon to be 
ordained, and on the 11th of January, 1829, they wrote to 
him expressing a desire to see and become acquainted with 
him. Mr. Croswell was ordained deacon in Trinity Church, 
New Haven, of which his father was the Rector, on the 25th 
of January, In April he idsited Boston, and preached in 
Christ Church. At this time, unexpectedly to him. Dr. 
Eaton resigned, and on the 13th of May, Mr. Croswell was 
chosen his successor. He accepted, entered upon his new 
office on the 31st, and was ordained Priest, and instituted in 
this Church, on the 24th of June, being then in his 25th year. 
In the memoir, written by his father, may be found a full 
account of the eleven years of his pastorate. He preached 
usually three times on Sunday, baptized large numbers of 
children, attended the Sunday School, and performed a great 
amount of pastoral duty. In 1835, he declined an invitation to 
t Norwalk, writing to his father that he had " an ancient and 

respectable parish, one of the most reverend and delightful old 
Churches 'to be found in this country, a people attached to him 
and satisfied with him and a prospect of increasing and perma- 
nent usefulness." The next year he refused an offer of the 



36 



position of Assistant Minister of All Saints' Qnu'C b, New 
York. EEs poetic taste, Avarm heart and sincere devotion to 
Ills master's work, won the admiration and affection of his peo- 
ple. The nnmber of commnnicants, which had been rednced 
after St. Panl's Church was built in 1820, gradually rose to 
one hundred and seventy-five, and the Sunday School num- 
bered over three hundred scholars. Dr. Eaton was a friend 
and father to him. His own hymns were sung by his own 
jDeople. His home was for a while in the building now used 
for the Sunday School, which he playfully styled " the cloisters 
of Cripple gate." He likened the steep stairs up which the 
children clambered into the upper school room to the ladder 
of faith, 

" WhereoD their souls may rise 
And make through Christ their entrance sore 
To mansions in the skies — " 

He often came from his study into the Church at dead of 

night, and " felt," he writes, " oppressed" 

" To know that iu the lofty room 
I was the ouly living: guest. 
The ticking of you ancient clock 

That marks the solemn tread of Time, 
Against my heart-strings seemed to knock. 

And harkl those Christmas bells sublime! 
So have they rung a hundred yeais, 

And on the ears that heard ihem first 
The chiming of the starry spheres 

With their enrapturing tones has burst." 

In his Christmas Eve Pastoral there is an allusion to the 

figTires upon the organ gallery : 

" And now a joyous echo rings 

And seems the whole angelic row, 
That o'er the rood-ioit poise their wings, 
Their loud uplifted trumps to blow." 

It Avas hard for him to lea^'c the Church which he loved so 

well, and the correspondence attending his resignation in 1840, 

when he removed to Auburn, honorable alike to pastor and 

people, proves that his many friends suffered him to go with 

o'reat reluctance. The proprietors testified to his fiiithful and 

unremitting exertions to advance not only the interests of the 



3T 



parish but those of the Church at large in the Diocese, to his 
many sacrifices and to his unbounclecniberahty. The Bishop, 
the clergy and many of the laity joined in testimonials of 
esteem and expressions of regret at his going. Such a loving 
ministry was well concluded by this beautiful exercise of chris- 
tian affection. Once more he addressed this venerable 
sanctuary : 

" Not for thy pomp and pride of place. 

Not for thy relics rare 
Of Kings, and miuisters of <>race 

Whose names thy vessels bear : 
Not for thy boast of high degree, 

Nor charms of gorgeous style, 
Hast thou been ever dear to me, 

thou, time-honoured pile ! 
But for thy constant truth, which still 

Preserves from age to age 
Unmoved through good report and ill 

The fathers' heritage. 
For six score years thy lolty vaults 

With those ascriptions ring 
Which littthe soul, while it exalts 

The Christ, of glory King. 
And well might walls, so taught, cry out, 

If human lips were dumb, 
And aisles spontaneous swell the shout 

Until the Bridegroom come." 

Dr. Croswell returned to Boston in 1844, and became Eector 
of the Church of the Advent. He died on the 9th of Novem- 
ber, 1851, at the age of forty-seven years. On the following 
day the Yestry of tliis parish held a special meeting, and voted 
to attend his funeral, and passed suitable resolutions, commem- 
orating his unassuming worth, the consistency of his christian 
character, his fidelity in the discharge of duty and his kindness 
to the poor, and especially his readiness to visit the sick and 
dying and perform any pastoral duty for this parish during the 
vacancy in the rectorship . 

In consequence of the loss of the parish records the rest of 
our history must be very brief. The Rev. John Woart was 
instituted into the rectorship on the Sunday next before Ad- 
vent, 1840. He resigned in 1851. We find, by the Journals 
of the Convention that in the year ending in June 1842, fifty 



38 



three were confirmed and forty-five were added to the com- 
munion. In 1850, the number of communicants was 125. 
The Rev. William T. Smithett was instituted on the Feast of the 
Epiphany, 1852, and resigned in September, 1859. He was 
succeeded in 1860 by the Eev. John T. BurriU who entered 
upon the duties of Rector on the 5th of February in that year. 
The removal of famihes from the Xorth End to the other parts 
of the city, during the last thirty years, has greatly 
diminished the number of attendants upon public w^orship. 
Xotwithstandino' all discourao-ements a oTcat deal of g-ood has 
been accomphshed, and the annual parocliial reports tell of large 
numbers baptized, confirmed and added to the communion. 
The parish has enjoyed a large share of spiritual prosperity 
under its faithful and earnest rectors, the Rev. jMessrs. TToart, 
Smithett and BmTill. In a densely popidated part of the city 
like that which surrounds Christ Church, there must be al- 
ways members of the Church of England, strangers in a 
strange land, and needing the ministrations of the Church. Our 
late Diocesan, Bishop Eastburn, said that if there were no 
Episcopal Chm-ch at the Xorth End this is precisely the spot 
where we should desire to have one. 

The Rev. J. T. Bm-rill resigned in 1868, and the present 
incumbent was chosen Rector on the 27th of August, and 
entered upon his duties on the 1st of October in that year. 

One hundred famihes, some of whom reside in distant parts 
of the city, may be considered as belonging to this parish. 
The number of communicants rej^orted to the last Convention 
was one hundi^ed and twenty. During the previous year thirty 
were confirmed, and forty-one were baptized. There were 
twenty one marriages, and seven burials. The Sunday School, 
w^ith its one hundred and forty four scholars, is accomphshing 
a great amount of good, and every department of the parish, 
work is conducted with zeal and energy by the present wor- 
shippers in this truly sacred house of God. 

On this day of historical recollections we ought to celebrate 
the memory of those whose wisdom, piety and love, have b uilt 



39 



preserved and endowed this church, for the glory of God in 
Jesus Christ whose name it bears. Mrs. Jane Keen Richard- 
son, in her will dated May 24, 1824, and admitted to probate 
on the 30th day of January 1826, gave her estate on Cham- 
bers street, (subject to certain conditions) , to the Wardens of 
Christ Church, in trust, for the support and maintenance of 
the pubhc worship of Almighty God in said Christ Church ; 
and, the instrument continues, " said Wardens and their suc- 
cessors are hereby enjoined in all their doings relating to the 
premises to consult the best good of said Christ Church, the 
temporal and spiritual interests whereof I earnestly and de- 
voutly wish to promote ; and further, my will is that prefer- 
ence be given by said Wardens and successors to the payment 
of the salary of the Rector for the time being of said Christ 
Church rather than to the payment of other expenses of pub- 
lic worship in said church as aforesaid, provided the income 
of said real estate be needed for that purpose." If the " So- 
ciety of Christ Church should worship in any other manner, 
or believe in any other doctrine, or be subject to any other 
jurisdiction" than those of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
then the estate is given to the Trustees of Donations for the 
support of the Bishop of the Eastern Diocese. For several 
years very little was derived from this source. Last year the 
net income from the estate was $1182.69. 

The sum of $1,000 was left to the parish by Mrs. Katharine 
Hay, the widow of Captain John Hay, the youngest son of 
Lord Hay of Scotland. By her will this sum is to accumulate 
for the purpose of procuring a parsonage house. It has been 
invested in the house which stands on ' ' the Academy lot" on 
Salem street. The income from that house, and from the one in 
the rear was, for the year ending March 20, 1873, $714.74, 
making the whole income of the property belonging to the Church 
$1,897.43. The Offertory yielded $311.49 and the pews 
$467.25. Total, $2,676.17. This paid all the ordinary ex- 
penses including the salaries. But this parish must always be 
liable to large outlays of money to keep this ancient historic 



40 



building in repair. In 1804 the steeple was blown down and 
it was rebuilt in 1807. In 1846 it was found to be in a de- 
caying condition and it became necessary to take it down. On 
the 17th of August, 1847, the spire, or all above the upper 
windows, was raised from its fastenino;s and lowered from the 
height of one hundred and thirty feet to the pavement without 
damage or accident — " a fearful and wonderful sight," says 
one who saw it. That part of the steeple which supported the 
spire was rebuilt with new sills, posts, braces and finish, 
the architecture being carefully conformed to that of the 
original steeple which was considered very elegant. While the 
spire was on the ground the ball was opened and found to 
contain a statement of the "blowing down" in 1804, 
and of the restoration of the steeple m 1807, also an 
account of the repairs and painting of the edifice in 1834, 
written by William Croswell. These were carefully replaced, 
with an account of the work done in 1847, a copy of Dr. 
Eaton's Centennial Sermon, and other historical documents, 
and the Avhole spire was restored to its place, where it stood 
safely through the destructive gale of 1869. To the wise 
forethought and liberality of the Churchmen of 1847 we are 
indebted for the preservation of the steeple to this day. The 
cost of this work with repairs and painting was $2,500 which 
was raised by subscription. 

Other repairs have been made from time to time, often at great 
cost. In 1830 the pulpit was put in the chancel, one of the two 
doors, still to be seen in the Yestry-room, opening into it, and 
the other oivino; access to the readino- desk which stood in 
front of it. In 1860 it was taken out again, and the present 
arrangement was adopted. The interior was cleaned and 
painted and new carpets were put down in 1872. Losses of 
insurance, consequent upon the great fire of that year, have 
prevented the entire payment of the cost of painting ; and to 
discharge the debt then incurred and provide for needed ex- 
ternal repairs, the parish requires now $1,000. There have 
been periods when the Church would have been closed, and its 



41 



services discontinued, had not two sisters, noble-hearted, christian 
ladies, brought their money, like her whom Jesus praised, 
to the treasury of God's holy temple. To one, always serene 
and cheerful in her total blindness, the Lord has opened the 
glories of the mansions of light. The mortal remains of Betsey 
Loring, after the close of a life of eighty-one years, were com- 
mitted to the tomb in the cemetery upon Copp's hill, on a quiet 
Lord^s Day in July, 1871. Her memory is most affectionately 
cherished in this parish. 

By the will of Mr. William Price, an ^active, zealous and 
liberal member of this parish, dated A.D., 1770, the Kector 
of Christ Church pi*eaches two of the eight sermons, known 
as the Price Lectures ; and the poor of this parish receive one- 
half of the amount collected after the sermons, together with 
twenty shillings sterling. 

Miss Eliza Burroughs, daughter of the late George Bur- 
roughs, of this city, left to the Rector and Wardens of this 
Church, in 1872, $800, in trust for the benefit of the poor of the 
parish. This amount, with other contributions for charitable 
purposes, has been invested in a bond of the Chicago, Burling- 
ton and Quincy Rail Road Co., for $1,000 bearing interest at 
7 per cent, and is designated, " The Burroughs' Fund." The 
interest is given to the poor. 

Almost a century has passed away since British regiments 
were stationed here, and it was a pleasant omen of peace and 
harmony, and almost a pledge of love and friendship, 
when, by her Majesty's gracious permission, the Band 
of the Grenadier Guard came to Boston in 1872. And wlien 
they came to worship the Lord in this Church, and the red 
coats once more filled its pews, the event was clothed with 
historic interest. The men felt themselves at home. And 
here, on the last New Year's Eve, for the first time since the 
Revolution, prayers were offered for the Sovereign of Great 
Britain in a church service in Boston. And to-night, under 
the united flags of the two great nations, never again we trust 
to be arrayed in hostility against each other, British and 



42 



Americans, holding the one pure faith, members of one holy 
Chm'ch, have joined in prayers, praises and thankgivings to the 
one God and Father of all, through the Lord Jesus Christ. 



AUTHORITIES. 

The account of Mr. Newman's movements on that memorable night, 
when he suspended the lanterns in the beifry as a signal for Paul Revere, 
was given to the writer by Mr. Newman's son. 

The following are among the Authorities consulted in preparing this 
historical account. 

The Records, Account Books and papers belonging to the Parish. 

Perry's Historical Collections relating to the American Colonial Church. 
Vol. 3. Massachusetts. 

Documentary History of the Prot. Epis. Church in the U. S. Docu- 
ments concerning the Church in Connecticut, by Hawks and Perry, Vol. I. 

Chandler's life of Johnson. 

Beardsley's History of the Church in Connecticut. 

Quincy's History of Harvard University. 

Sabine's American Loyalists, 

Updike's History of the Narragausett Church. 

Dr. Eaton's Centennial Sermon. 

Dr. Edson's Sermon commemorative of Dr. Eaton. 

Dr. Croswell's Memoirs. 

Sprague's Am. Pulpit. 

Collections of the Prot. Ep. Hist. Society. 

Anderson's Colonial Church. 

Humphrey's Hist, account of the S. P. G. 

Wilberforce's Hist. Am. Church. 

The Disestablished Church, by the Rev. Walter Farquhar Hook, D.D. 
The Lauding of the Loyalists, by the Rev. James J. Hill, St. John, N.B. 
Top. and Hist. Description of Boston, by N. B. Shurtlefi; M.D, 



43 



ACCOUNT OF THE SERVICES. 

The one hundred and fiftieth Anniversary of the opening of Christ 
Church was celebrated by appropriate services on Sanday the 28th and 
Monday the 29th of December, 1873. 

The Church was very handsomely decorated with flowers, wreaths and 
branches of evergreen. Over the chancel was a brilliantly sparkling silver 
star upon a blue back ground. On the pilasters at the sides of the chancel 
were medallions with the dates 1723 and 1873. The ample folds of the" 
British and American flags were gracefully hung in front of the organ 
gallery, and above them was the sentence pronounced at the laying of 
the Corner Stone. 

" May the gates of hell never prevail against it." 

The massive Plate, used in the Communion Service, was displayed upon 
the Altar, both on Sunday and Monday evenings, and the soft light of 
candles in the ancient chandeliers mingled with the brighter glare of the 
gas-burners. The bells pealed as merrily as they did at Christmas tide 
in the last century. The singing was by the choir of Sunday School 
Scholars under the direction of the accomplished organist Mrs. Wm. 
Kent Stone. 

The Sermon on Sunday morning was preached by the Rev. William A. 
Des Brisay (a great-grandson of the Rev. Dr. Mather Byles, jr., who was 
Rector, one hundred years ago,) from the text: " These all died in faith, 
not having received the promises, but having seen them afar ofl" and were 
persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were 
strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Heb. xi:13. 

In the afternoon the Rev. Theodore A. Eaton, D.D., Rector of St. 
Clement's Church, New York, preached from 1 Tim. 3 :13, " Great is the 
mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the 
Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the 
world, received up into glory." His father, the Rev. Asa Eaton, D.D., 
preached the centennial sermon, on the 28th of Dec. 1823. Both these 
clergymen took part, with the Rector, in the services of the day, reading 
from the Bible and Prayer Book used by Dr. Byles and Dr. Asa Eaton. 

In the evening the Rt. Rev. Bishop Paddock, made his first visitation 
to this Church. As the Bishop and clergy entered, the choir sang the 
hymn, " Come hither ye faithful." Evening Prayer was said by the Rev. 
Mr. Des Brisay and by the Rector, after which addresses were made by 
the Rev. Dr. Eaton, and the Rev. Drs. Wells and Vinton, who had known 
this parish and its Pastors for many years. The Rector then announced 
the presence of the Bishop, and turning to him, presented the congrega- 
tion to him as their chief pastor, as king in their behalf, his counsel, his 
prayers, and his blessing. The Bishop made a very beautiful and 



44 



impressive address, urging upon the people the duty of quitting them- 
selves like men, in imitation of those who have gone before them, after 
which he offered prayer and pronounced the benediction. 

On Monday evening, the 29th, the church was completely filled, and 
among those present were the minister of King's Chapel, and other clergy- 
men, members of the Historical Society, the Church Brotherhood, and 
two Societies composed of British residents. The hymn, " Onward Chris- 
tian Soldiers" was sung at the entrance of the Bishop and Clergy. Evening 
Prayer was begun by the Eev. John T. Burrill, of Chelsea, Rector of this 
Church from 1860 to 1868. The fifth Selection of Psalms was read by the 
Eev. C. C. Tiffany, Assistant Minister of Trinity Church upon the Greene 
Poundation. The first lesson was read by the Rev. Mr. Des Brisay, and 
the second by the Rev. Dr. Eaton. The Jsicene Creed was said by the 
Eev. Dr. Hoppin, Rector of Christ Church, Cambridge, one of our 
Historic Churches, and the Prayers by the Rev. R. H. Howe, Rector of 
Christ Church, Quincy, formerly Braintree, the oldest parish of our 
communion in this Commonwealth. After the Address and the Offertory 
the whole congregation joined in the Old Hundredth Psalm, and the Bishop 
said the concluding Prayers and pronoanced the Benediction. 



